Every week, we'll send you an update on what happened at City Hall, School Board, and Park Board in the last seven days. Hear directly from OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney, OneCity School Board Trustee Jennifer Reddy, and OneCity Park Board Candidates on the goings on in City government.
City Council Update:
We’re finished! This week was the final round of Council meetings for before October 17’s election. And what a huge week it was. In this update I’m only going to cover the most high-profile decisions of the week: the ill-fated Villages Plan, Holborn’s mega tower development Downtown, the Maritime Museum Spa Barge collab and the Mount Pleasant “Tech Hotel”.
Villages Plan
This week I was the only Councillor that voted in support of the controversial Villages Plan, which would have rezoned 17 neighbourhoods to allow ground-oriented multiplexes, townhouses, low-rise apartments and mixed-used buildings with space for shops and services on the ground floor. This is exactly the type of plan we need to allow more families to access housing off polluted, noisy dangerous arterial roads and to allow more residents to live within easy walking distance of shops and amenities.
Our neighbourhoods are changing, whether we direct that change or not. This Plan was not about whether we change. It was about how we change, where and for whom. This plan was an implementation action of that vision. For mixed housing for people at different life stages; for housing that is more attainable to more people, and provides convenience in daily life.
Improved Affordability
This plan would have legalized a variety of housing types that are more affordable than the single detached homes that predominate many of these areas today. Low rise apartments are the most affordable form of market housing, especially with single stair egress projects that can be built on smaller sites. They are the least expensive to build, quickest to market, and enable more types of builders, not only large institutional investors, to participate in housing delivery.
While it is true that the plan did not require the delivery of affordable housing in all cases, it does include Inclusionary zoning and below-market rental requirements wherever they are financially viable, especially on the West Side where affordable housing is scarce.
Non-market housing providers would be one of the significant beneficiaries, since they often rely heavily on zoning entitlements to secure funding.
In addition, non-market affordable housing benefits from Development Cost Levy (or DCL) funding, so market projects will be making meaningful contributions to the development of city-led affordable housing.
Background to the Villages Plan
This plan was built on years of public engagement on the Vancouver Plan, one of the City’s largest public engagement exercises, which defined what villages were as a neighbourhood type and where, and included policy that reflected the strong desire of Vancouverites to expand the opportunity for more residents to be able to live in walkable locations, with a variety of housing.
Staff Set Up To Fail, Then Thrown Under The Bus
Staff were directed BY THIS COUNCIL to accelerate the time frame and it is relevant that the 2026 Budget passed by the majority vote cut the Planning Department’s budget by 15%, so ABC really set staff up to fail. We had extensive briefings and Council knew exactly what this plan involved.
Although Mayor Ken Sim and ABC voted to direct staff in October 2023 to prioritize and accelerate the Villages Plan work, they did an abrupt about-face after hearing strong opposition from hundreds of residents. ABC Councillors criticized staff unfairly in their final remarks and upon completion of the vote, ABC Vancouver emailed a letter to its mailing list blaming city staff.
I knew something was amiss when ABC had planning staff deliver their closing remarks directly after public speakers at nearly one in the morning last week instead of the usual practice of hearing them at the beginning of debate and decision. That presentation contained a thoughtful explanation of the reasoning and benefits of the plan, corrections to some of the misunderstandings about it and explained possible amendments Council may like to consider to address concerns raised by members of the public. In retrospect, it’s obvious why ABC wanted as few people as possible to hear it.
It became clear that ABC was going to vote in opposition to its Villages Plan outright when Councillor Kirby-Yung tabled an amendment which severed the vote on the Villages Plan itself from direction to allow Single Stair Egress apartment buildings in limited areas.
Staff had provided us with suggested wording for a number of amendments along with a detailed explanatory document, so when ABC declined to avail themselves of them it was obvious they’d be voting in outright opposition.
Although the writing was on the wall, I attempted to move several amendments to find a path forward to refine and seek.
I tried to address the concerns about competition from new Villages area retail detrimentally affecting existing retail by moving an amendment directing staff to explore opportunities to deliver additional housing choices around existing retail zones, and ABC voted it down. Some of our most successful retail zones are on 4th and Kerrisdale, due in part to their locations and the low- and mid-rise residential densities already surrounding them.
I addressed public misunderstandings and lack of awareness of the Plan and its benefits by moving an amendment to refer the Plan back to staff for further examination and deep, village by village consultation, and ABC voted it down.
I even reluctantly moved an amendment to conduct a limited pilot in five of the seventeen Villages areas as a compromise, and ABC voted it down.
I had planned to move amendments to ensure sufficient public amenities and infrastructure and to directly address concerns about limits on some home owners’ rights to build laneway homes or rebuild in the Villages retail areas, but it seemed pointless by that stage.
Although I’m very disappointed that ABC threw the Villages Plan in the bin instead of continuing to work on it, and that they threw our incredibly competent, helpful staff under the bus, it was good to continue the conversation about how we want to grow as a City. My vote precipitated an onslaught of media interest, including interviews with the media scrum at City Hall and then spots on Global, CKNW, Jas Johal and a discussion with CBC’s Stephen Quinn on The Early Edition.
I was able to explain that the only reason Vancouver’s home owners are able to rent out basement suites or build laneway homes and multiplexes is because they’ve been made legal through relaxing strict zoning laws. The only way we would ever see organic growth of new retail areas and low rise apartment buildings is if we relax zoning restrictions that make them illegal.
I had the opportunity to explain that our current zoning is a “one-size-fits-all” approach, that has produced neighbourhoods as diverse as Grandview Woodland, Mount Pleasant, Kitsilano and Marpole, which all have the same RM-3A/RM-4 zoning.
I’ve been able to explain that more retail space could also help take some pressure off commercial rents. Scarcity gives landlords leverage, and it often leaves room only for chains, established operators, or businesses with the highest margins. More storefronts would mean more competition among landlords and more openings for independent restaurants, small retailers, first-time entrepreneurs, creative local concepts, and other small businesses.
The fate of the Villages Plan demonstrates clearly how important it is that our OneCity Mayoral and Council candidates be elected in October.
Holborn Tallest Buildings Project
On Monday I voted in opposition to Holborn's rezoning application which will allow the City’s three largest towers to be built. Council voted 7-3 to approve the 79-storey tower and two 68-storey towers, on the central Downtown block bordered by Georgia, Seymour, Dunsmuir and Richards streets, the former site of the Dunsmuir Hotel. A 25-storey social housing building will be built on Holborn’s Abbott Street site, including a childcare facility with commercial uses and cultural space on the ground floor to be handed over to City ownership.
The design looks beautiful and will hopefully benefit the neighbourhood and City by activating a long-dormant site and providing useful market and social housing and event facilities. However I had several reservations about the project and wanted to send a clear message to Holborn that the way it has conducted itself in our City is unacceptable.
This decision was made prior to the completion of the City’s 1997 Higher Buildings Policy Review, with ABC voting against delaying the decision until after the completion of the review, which is described as providing “an opportunity to intentionally shape Vancouver’s skyline by supporting architectural excellence, while balancing livability and sustainability”.
I felt that my questions about the seismic design of the building were brushed off by the applicant. By contrast, the design of the Costanera Center, South America’s tallest building, located in Santiago, Chile, includes deep foundations, an outrigger system, and flexible structural features that were engineered to withstand massive tectonic shifts. While still under construction in February 2010, the complex withstood the massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile without suffering any structural damage.
Staff carefully arranged approvals for the residential towers to depend on the completion of the social housing required to be built as part of the project to put safeguards in place to prevent a repeat of Little Mountain with regard to the social housing to be built at the Abbott Street site, but can Holborn be trusted?
Holborn neglected the site's 115-year-old Dunsmuir Hotel for over a decade, allowing a chronic roof leak and severe rot to cause a partial floor collapse into the basement, requiring emergency demolition in January 2025 to prevent a catastrophic collapse. This neglect cleared the way for this much higher-value redevelopment to take place. The 167-unit single-room occupancy building had sat completely empty under Holborn Group ownership since 2013.
The demolition by neglect of the Dunsmuir Hotel echoed the controversies surrounding the demolition of social housing and extraordinary delay in rebuilding it at Holborn’s Little Mountain project near Queen Elizabeth Park. The concessions and tax breaks extended to Holborn haven’t helped to repair the community’s trust.
This decades-long track record has eroded Holborn’s “social license to operate” within the City of Vancouver.
It’s unfortunate that the largest project in Vancouver’s history is going ahead before the height policy is finished, especially when the applicant freely stated that this project won’t go ahead unless economic conditions change. That means either construction prices go down or housing prices go up. The proponents have been sitting on this site for 20 years. I can only imagine that the urgency in bringing this approval forward now instead of waiting for the completion of the Tall Buildings policy relates to uncertainties about ABC’s reelection prospects and the enthusiasm of a new Council to turn a blind eye to Holborn’s track record.
Mount Pleasant Tech Hotel
This week The ABC majority on Council approved an extended-stay hotel at 75 E 8th Ave in Mount Pleasant. The project replaces the 1960s-era Myron Manor apartment building, displacing about 40 tenants.
Although I am supportive of new extended-stay accommodation in this area, I voted in opposition to the project because although the Myron Manor residents are entitled to compensation, this project falls into a policy gap where displaced residents have no right of return due to the new building being a hotel rather than a residential building, unlike other residents displaced by Broadway Plan projects.
Myron Manor was built before the area was zoned for industrial and commercial uses only. As such, the apartment building has legal non-conforming use rights, which allow a property use or existing structure to continue to be used if it was completely legal when it started, but later became prohibited or restricted by a new zoning law or planning rule.
I was convinced by arguments that there is insufficient compensation or protection of existing tenants and the assurances of the applicant that they would go above the minimum required were not sufficiently detailed or enforceable to reassure me.
Even though the project was marketed as being extended-stay accommodation for tech workers, there will be no restrictions on any member of the public staying there. The availability of extended-stay accommodation is crucial for people who:
-
Are relocating to Vancouver and need temporary accommodation while they find their longer-term homes;
-
Are visiting family in Vancouver;
-
Supporting family members receiving medical treatment in Vancouver’s hospitals;
-
Working in Vancouver on temporary or fixed-term contracts;
-
Temporarily relocating due to renovations or emergency repairs of their permanent home.
-
Prefer to have a kitchen available when they travel.
I was disturbed by some public speakers’ comments deriding some users of extended-stay accommodation as “medical tourists” as if people without medical access travelling from other parts of British Columbia to access specialized medical services like cancer treatment and care of premature babies were instead travelling to Vancouver to get a good price on a facelift or hair replacement treatments. It demeans folks who are often going through the most difficult and stressful time of their lives, and adding the financial burden of an expensive hotel stay on top of that is something that we should work to avoid.
Maritime Museum Spa Barge Collab
I was pleased to vote in favour of the Vancouver Maritime Museum and HAVN project to establish a spa and wellness facility in Heritage Bay, which will provide sorely-needed earned revenue for the under-funded Museum and provide Vancouverites with a fun new amenity. A friend of mine couldn’t help naming the project Task Force Barge(!).
Knocking on Your Door Soon
With formal Council meetings finished, I’ll be having a nap, then launching into fundraising and door knocking until the voting stations close on October 17th. If you have appreciated my voting record over the past 15 months, please help us get our OneCity candidates elected by donating to the OneCity Victory Fund and sign up to volunteer.
You can reach me at [email protected] or [email protected]. Have a great weekend.
Lucy Maloney
OneCity Vancouver City Councillor
Park Board Update:
Another week of hitting the doors, pounding pavement, and talking to folks across this city. The issues don't change, but notably people around Renfrew are concerned about the local Renfrew Park Community Centre, which is not seismically safe. This is a refuge point, ranked as the #2 Priority in the Park Board Community Centre Strategy, but completely absent from the Ken Sim's version. Not only is it not safe if/when we experience a significant earthquake, it is not even large enough to meet the needs of the community. We need to do better.
Growing communities need growing infrastructure, and we can't build a city that expects residents to go to work and go home. People need things to do, and we should be providing spaces to do those without spending beyond your means. Vancouver shouldn't be a playground just for the rich. The rest of us deserve fun too.
People have been feeling pinched, with higher parking fees, higher user fees, and worse services. These are the hidden costs of Ken's "zero means zero" budget, and the underfunding of the Park Board. Restoring funding, with a progressive OneCity Vancouver-led Council and Park Board are going to be critical in re-establishing a strong baseline, where we are supporting residents, investing in maintenance, and growing with our City.
As we travel around the city, the inequity around tree cover is stark. And the difference is noticeable, cars drive slower, the streets are quieter, and obviously cooler (both in temperature and in vibe).
Pride is in full swing - we'll be marching and around all weekend. So if you see us, stop by and say hi!
In solidarity,
Tyler Petersen
OneCity Vancouver Candidate for Park Board
